Reversible envelope



(No Model.) 4

E. R. MATHIS. REVERSIBLE ENVELOPE.

No. 442.234. Patented Dec. 9, 1890.

J mlrimlmmmmmm mmmnmmm UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDlVIN R. MATIIIS, OF COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOW'A.

REVERSlBLE ENVELOPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 442,234, dated December 9, 1890.

Application filed June 24, 1889. Serial No. 315,301. (No model.)

To on whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWIN R. MATHIS, a citizen of the United States of America, and residing at. Council Bluffs, in the county of Pottawattamie and State of Iowa, have invented an Improved Reversible Envelope, of which the following; is a specification.

Heretofore a sheet of paper has been doubled into a folio and each leaf provided with a single wing or flap at two of its parallel edges adapted tobe doubled back upon the leaf, and also provided with one or two flaps at each of the other two parallel edges that were adapt ed in size and shape and location to be doubled back, so that their free ends would overlap each other at the center of the leaf of the folio to produce a pocket in which a letter could be inclosed and sealed and the envelope subsequently opened and reversed and used again; but it is ditficult to make and operate dies that require the cutting-edges to be irregular and extended to produce the forms of flaps described on numbers of sheets of paper placed on top of each other in a press, and it also requires a larger sheet to produce a re versible envelope of such configuration than to complete an envelope of common form and of the same size that is not reversible and cannot be used twice. My object is to avoid such difficulty in the manufacture of envelopes and to produce a reversible envelope of any given size desired from a smaller sheet than heretofore used to produce a common envelope of the same size not adapted to be reversed and used twice.

My invention consists in the construction and folding, sealing, and opening an envelope, as hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows one of my envelopes spread out open and flat, and Fig. 2 shows it folded and sealed. Fig. 3 is amodilication of Fig. 1, and Fig. shows the modified form closed and sealed.

A represents a single sheet of paper that may vary in size and shape as desired. It

has integral flaps B of uniform shape and size on its parallel side edges, and smaller flaps C on the edges of its ends that are narrow and uniform in shape and size. The flaps C have notches (Z at their centers that adapt the sheet to be doubled into folio form so that each leaf of the folio can be used for writing an address thereon, and each leaf will have one fia-p B and two flaps C. No. 1 leaf has its flaps gummed, as indicated, by shading No 2 leaf has its flaps gummed on the opposite side. Parallel dotted lines on each sheet indicate where the addresses are to be written.

To inclose and seal a letter in the folio form, I fold the letter and place it upon leaf No, 1, double'the flaps of leaf No. 2 inward, and then double the leaf No. 2 upon the leaf No. l. I next moisten the gummed edges of the flaps of leaf No. 1 and double them down inward and fasten them on the top or back of the No. 2 leaf, as required, to seal it.

To open the envelope so it can be reversed and sealed again, I sever the seal flaps from the No.1 leaf and let them remain fast on the back of theNo. 2 leaf, so that the No. 1 leaf can be doubled upon the No. Zleaf and the flaps of No. fastened on the No.1. The two sets of flaps can be thus successively used for sealing the same envelope.

I claim as my invention I. A blank for a reversible envelope, consisting of two parts A A, one being the counterpart of the other and each having a side flap and narrow end flaps B and C C, said flaps on the two parts being guinmed on opposite sides for sealing, substantially as set forth and shown.

2. The envelope constructed from said blank, the two parts being folded togethcrand having the narrow end flaps upon one of the said parts folded over and scaled down upon the other, while flaps upon the latter are folded inward with their guniming in condition suitable for sealing on reversing the envelope, as set forth and described.

EDWIN R. MA'IIIIS. \Vitnesses:

(J. G. SAUNDERS, GEO. IIULEEnr. 

